Community Corner

Fire on Oakside Deemed Arson

The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office has classified the fire that ravaged an apartment building on Oakside Avenue on Wednesday as arson.  

Early assessments of the fire that injured two and displaced dozens determined that the blaze began in the carport, and worked its way up into the building.  

An accelerant was used to start the fire, according to the Sheriff’s Office.  The type of accelerant is not yet known; samples were sent to the lab and are being analyzed.   

Investigators determined it was arson based on burn patterns and facts of the case, said Rebecca Rosenblatt, public information officer for the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.  
 
“It is unknown if the Oakside fire is related to other carport fires,” Rosenblatt told Patch.

“There’s still a lot of damage to analyze before a determination like that can be made,” Rosenblatt said.

Investigators determined that this fire caused $750,000 in damages to the structure and $300,000 worth of damages to the building’s contents.  

Sprinklers were not installed in the carport.

On January 24, 2011 Redwood City adopted a portion of the California Fire code that requires apartment buildings to install automatic sprinkler systems when a permit for a new roof is issued for the property, or the property’s floor area exceeds 3,000 square feet.  All new buildings are expected to conform to that city code.   

The apartment complex on Oakside is located in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County.  

Residents who live nearby said they were woken up at about 4 a.m. Wednesday to noises of explosions and helicopters.  Some thought they were gunshots, while others thought the noises sounded like explosions.  The cause of those noises has not been made public. 

Patch will update you as we obtain more information.


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